


Waking in Sickbay

by LeftyVoyager



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 02:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3102572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeftyVoyager/pseuds/LeftyVoyager
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Janeway finds herself in sickbay.  Again.  What's it like to wake up on a biobed?  And who shows up to comfort the captain?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waking in Sickbay

**Author's Note:**

> Okay - here it is. My first new fan fiction story in 15 years. In an attempt to make improvements over my earlier works, I wanted to write less dialogue, write in the first person in the present tense, and focus on a single event rather than attempt a full plot. Also attempting the same event from two different perspectives. I hope that folks will enjoy!

Waking in Sickbay

Kathryn:

I feel myself begin to become aware through a disturbingly familiar fog that must be caused by sickbay sedatives.

Sickbay.  Was I injured?  I don't feel anything, yet.  I need to know.  I open my eyes and shut them again very quickly.  Definitely sickbay, but the lights are too bright.  The painful sensation opens the floodgates to other aches and pains.  Most noticeably, a dull but persistent headache makes it's presence known.  I seem to get them whenever I get sedated.  The other pains must be residual from injuries that have been recently healed from the Doctor.   This one must have been a doozy.

Doctor.  The fact that I have a doctor without a name makes me think about the fact he's an EMH.  Emergency Medical Hologram.  On Voyager.

Voyager.  The ship where I'm the captain.  If I'm injured, what is happening to my ship?  My crew?  I try to sit up and force open my eyes again, but there is so much fog in my mind, and I don't think my body is actually cooperating.  I can't remember what happened.  I feel myself panicking.

A soft voice is speaking in soothing tones, but I can't make out what he's saying.  It's a male voice, but not the Doctor.  I spend so much time trying to make sense of it that I forget what I'm scared about.  Ignorance is bliss, and I decide to relax into the fog instead of trying to cut through it.  I feel like I'm floating on a raft down a gentile river.

As I float, two voices are speaking in hushed tones.  One is the Doctor.  The other is the unidentified male voice.  I find myself wishing it was my father, but even in this state, I know that's not possible.  The fog makes it hard to be terribly concerned about it.

I become aware of someone holding my hand.  It occurs to me that it's been a long time since someone has held my hand.  It makes me feel safe and warm.  I release a sigh that I think may have actually made it to my body, if that makes any sense.

"Kathryn," speaks one of the voices.  Now the syllables and the identity of the person speaking are clear.

Chakotay.  I should have known it was him.  We've had a standing, unspoken agreement to be there for each other in sickbay as long as there's no urgent matter to be handled on the bridge.  I smile.

"Everything's all right, Kathryn.  The battle is over and repairs are almost complete.  You were the only one injured.  Rest now."  He keeps my hand in his as he speaks softly.

I have to see him.  I force myself through the damned fog and my eyes flutter open.  The lights still feel bright, though I realize they are actually set very dim.  The headache comes back with a vengeance and I groan.

"Chakotay," I croak, satisfied at seeing his face hovering above the biobed.  I trace his tattoo with my eyes.  Details of the battle come to me through the swirling fog.  The ship was jolted violently while I was standing at Tuvok's station.  I had fallen to the floor and made a couple of attempts to rise as the ship got tossed around.  At one point, I figured that I had cracked a few ribs as I felt the air rush out of my lungs.  I remembered passing out when my head unceremoniously cracked against the railing I had just used to pull myself up.  That explains the headache.

"Are you in pain, Kathryn?" he asks.  I must have been wincing.

"Just a headache - I'll live."  I wish I knew why my voice is so hoarse.  Had I been screaming?  Yelling orders?

The fog finally clears, and I feel instantly alert.  I give Chakotay's hand a slight tug, indicating for him to help me up.  He reluctantly complies, and I sit up on the biobed.

"Welcome back, Captain," quips the Doctor, hypospray in hand.  "This should help with the headache."  

I allow him access to my neck.  "Thank you, Doctor.  Looks like I owe you one again."

"One day of rest in your quarters, Captain.  You may access reports, if you must."  I nod and rise to my feet.

Chakotay hovers just close enough, just in case.  "Care for an escort?" he asks.

I gaze into his eyes with a look that hopefully expresses my gratitude for his steady presence.  I'm not an easy friend to have, nor is it easy to be my first officer.  "Gladly," I answer, and we thank the Doctor once again and leave sickbay with his hand on the small of my back.

***

Chakotay:

I finally allow myself to relax as I hover over her prone form.  Both the ship and it's captain are now out of danger, and I was finally able to pry myself from the bridge to be by her side.  In her sedative-induced slumber, she looks peaceful, as if ten years have been lifted from her face.  For once, her duties and responsibilities are not on her mind.  I almost wish she would stay asleep longer, but I know she'll be waking soon.

As if on cue, her expression changes, slightly, and she seems to be coming around.  Her eyes shoot open for a moment and immediately close again, and a look of pain mars her face.  Perhaps the already darkened sickbay lights are still too bright?  Curiosity seems to take over as she seems involved in some sort of inner struggle to find her bearings.

Curiosity turns to panic, as I wonder if she thinks that her ship could still be in danger.  I watch helplessly as her body convulses.  I call out to the Doctor to let him know she's waking.

"Kathryn, it's okay.  Don't be frightened.  Listen to my voice.  Everyone is safe now."  I pick up her hand and stroke it gently.  Oddly, this seems to calm her, and rather than becoming more wakeful, she seems to almost return to blissful somnolence.

"Don't worry, Commander.  It takes some time to wear off."  The Doctor walks from his office to her biobed to glance at her briefly and look at her readings.

"I just wish I could have gotten to her before she hit her head.  With the inertial dampeners offline, that bridge was like a roller coaster."  I hold her hand a little tighter.

"She's stirring again," comments the Doctor.  She heaves a small sigh.

"Kathryn," I call out to her.  I sense that she recognizes my voice this time as she smiles.  "Everything's all right, Kathryn.  The battle is over and repairs are almost complete.  You were the only one injured.  Rest now."

I watch her make another forceful attempt to open her eyes.  They flutter open, and she groans.

"Chakotay."  Her voice is a croak, at best.  As first officer, I try to take problems away from her, but I can't shield her from everything.  She's now looking right at me, just above my eyes, perhaps at my tattoo?  Her pensive expression suggests that she's remembering the battle.  She winces, ever so slightly.

"Kathryn, are you in pain?"  I so wish I could take it away from her.

"Just a headache - I'll live," she answers hoarsely.  

And suddenly, the spell is broken.  She pulls on my hand, wanting to sit up.   I steady her as she does so.

"Welcome back, Captain," quips the Doctor, hypospray in hand.  "This should help with the headache." 

To me, she seems too willing to accept the painkiller to be fully back to herself.   "Thank you, Doctor.  Looks like I owe you one again," croaks Kathryn.

"One day of rest in your quarters, Captain.  You may access reports, if you must."  She nods and rises to her feet.  I stay close to her.  I let her fall on the bridge.  I'll be damned if anything happens to her in sickbay.

"Care for an escort?" I ask.  It's not really a question.  I intend to make sure she goes directly to her quarters.  Though she doesn't seem inclined to disobey orders this time around.  It helps that the crisis is over.

The look she gives me surprises and delights me.  I had expected defiance.  Kathryn is fiercely independent, and I am providing more assistance than she usually accepts.  Instead, she looks grateful for my presence.  "Gladly," she answers.  My heart is soaring.

She allows me to lead her back to her quarters with my hand on her back.

The End.


End file.
